HUNTSVILLE, Alabama _ Alabama colleges are engaging in the same kind of doublespeak as politicians in avoiding the T-word.

With politicians, it's taxes. With university leaders, it's tuition.

Both hit their constituents in the pocketbook.

The Birmingham News reported this week that Alabama colleges are often jacking up student fees faster than the cost of tuition. Half of the state's public four-year schools have seen fees at least double in the past five years, The News reported. Such moves provide a way for administrators to bring in more revenue while proclaiming they are keeping tuition increases at a minimum.

Auburn University, for instance, initiated a $400-a-year "proration fee" this year on top of a 4 percent increase in tuition to offset state budget cuts. Students there now pay $1,402 in total fees, a 140 percent increase since the 2007-08 year, according to The News. The proration fee effectively makes the tuition hike more like 10 percent.

The University of Alabama in Huntsville charges $1,415 in total fees apart from tuition, up 62 percent from four years ago. Alabama A&M students pay $1,590, up 148 percent from four years ago.

Many of the fees, like student activity fees, have been around for years. The new ones creeping in cover a broad array of operational needs.

Take Montevallo, for instance. Students there pay an annual health and wellness fee of $150, a $120 student activity fee, a $40 administrative fee and a new environmental fee to help pay for future green initiatives at the college. And for an extra $40, parents can set up a fee-and-tuition payment plan.

University administrators say they've had to raise fees to keep up with the cost of expensive services students expect such as high speed wireless Internet, campus transit systems (like at Auburn) and new dorms and recreation centers.

Alabama is not alone in this heavier reliance on student fees. Georgia's state university system levied a "special instructional fee" that added $450 a semester at Georgia State and the University of Georgia and $550 per semester at Georgia Tech. Indiana University Bloomington added a $180 "repair and maintenance fee" this year that will be $360 next year.

In these uncertain economic times, people more than ever need a clearer picture of what a commodity or service will cost them. Who hasn't been caught off guard when buying a car or paying a phone, hotel or cable bill? Airlines are charging fees for baggage and in-flight services.

Alabama politicians are masters at this charade. A new tax, for instance, becomes a "revenue enhancement" or an "assessment." Then-Gov. Fob James came up with a winner when defending his support for a tax on cell phones for mobile 911 service. He argued it wasn't a new tax but an "inclusion" since residential and business customers began paying the 911 tax years before cell phones.

Some order is needed before this practice gets out of hand. State leaders should meet with the Alabama Commission on Higher Education to come up with some reasonable controls. No one likes higher tuition bills. But they shouldn't be hit with a smorgasbord of fees that may or may not go to their intended purpose. How about another T-word -- transparency?